Cardinal DiNardo: New US asylum policy erodes the right to life

Miami, Fla., Jun 13, 2018 / 07:36 am ().- At the opening of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ general assembly on Wednesday, the conference president issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s adoption of stricter asylum policies and its policy of family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border.

“At its core, asylum is an instrument to preserve the right to life,” read the June 13 statement from Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. The bishops gathered at the spring plenary meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, 30 miles north of Miami, indicated their widespread assent to the statement.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a 31-page ruling June 11 indicating that domestic violence and gang violence are no longer grounds for seeking asylum in the U.S. He said that domestic abuse and gang violence claims alone should not be considered grounds for an asylum claim, unless there is also evidence of persecution by government actors based on one’s social group.

The BBC reports that around 10,000 people annually receive asylum in the U.S. due to domestic abuse or gang violence in their home countries